Err....... No!

Never spent large amounts on Hi-Fi. Of course, "large" is relative to the individual. For decades never spent more than £200 on a component. There has been the odd exception, namely a few turntables. Never taken it all that seriously - monetary-wise.

Youve both focused on the 'Monitory' element of the question and that's fine... How about the amount of time focused on chasing HiFi.

^^^I expearianced a mental image of you sitting in a circle  Jules.

Hi, My name Is Jules and I am a recovering Vinyl addict 



 

No, I've not spent an inordinate amount of time on system building and tweaking, just the right amount of time and very enjoyable it has been generally.

I've mostly made good decisions over the years and have never become disillusioned because it's all about the music and I never stop listening. My system is an odd mix of expensive where it needs to be and inexpensive where good performance doesn't require high expenditure.

I really couldn't imagine being without my system for three years. What happened?

Yes, exactly that.
I could see and hear that ££££'s did not mean the sound I wanted.
Built my own speakers, carefully chosen drivers and components.
Much more rewarding, miles better sounding (to my ears) and long term.

Are you listening to music at all on some form of system, clearly it's not your main system. I find that if I don't have time to listen via a decent system I don't miss it. But...when I get back to listening through one of my systems I realise what I've been missing. There's no need to chase the dragon, spend lots of money or even time...just set up a system and see if you enjoy listening to music. If not, flog the kit.

My thanks to all respondants folks, and in light of same I feel some qualification is required.

Yup, I am indeed listening to music on a daily basis, for the most part lossless files via a couple of portable players, Viz an Astell&Kern A&ultima SP1000M.
Also as a major sports head I tend to listen to Sports commentaries and talkSPORT a good deal of the day.

For my part I realised a couple of years back that I was spending way too much time, and not exactly loose change, in constantly honing my main system in the quest for that extra percentage of percieved improvement. There is no doubting my mind that the audio playback of media I was achieving via this system was pretty spectacular however I began regarding it almost as a science project, spending way too much time evaluating rather than listening.

In the three years since walking away I have significantly increased my time spent attending Rugby Union and League matches during the winter and 1st class cricket during the summer months plus my golf handicap is now down to 4 strokes and my tennis and Squash have also improved not to make an arse of myself on the court.

I have also drastically increased my attendance of live music performances, mostly Opera ( Major Wagner Addict ) and Classical from the Met to La Scala and back to the ROH and Wigmore Hall.

On reflection I feel somewhat liberated from the OCD levels of addiction that HiFi can manifest itself upon ones psyche.

It sounds like you have a good balance in your life. Chasing the next level of improvement can be addictive.

Gosh that's a turnaround from Jerry of recent vintages!  

Ditching the vinyl and enjoying streaming has given me the most healthy relationship with both the gear and music I have had for many years.
I'm discovering as much new (and old) music as I want and can listen without being stressed about where the next click and pop is going to be ...